In a bid to add technical muscle to the police force, Punjab government announced its decision to recruit nearly 800 domain experts from the field of information and digital technology, legal forensics and finance in the state’s police force to ensure that investigations and prosecutions keep pace with the changing nature of crime in the state.
Punjab top cop tweeted to claim that this would make Punjab Police the first in the country with domain experts on its muster rolls.
“Thanks to support of CM Punjab, Punjab Police set to become the 1st Police force in the country to recruit domain experts. 240 Forensic technicians, 157 Law officers, 247 IT specialists, 153 Finance and Accounting analysts will assist complex & new age crime investigations,” a tweet by DGP Dinkar Gupta said.
As part of the new strategy, a total of 798 experts will be recruited directly as plain clothes civilian support staff for the Punjab Investigation Bureau, confirmed an official statement. The PBI has planned to induct a total of 4,251 personnel as part of the police department’s restructuring. The restructuring was approved by the Punjab cabinet, said the statement.
“The Amarinder Singh-led council of Ministers on Wednesday paved the way for Punjab police to become India’s first police force to draw civilians as domain experts in IT/Digital, Legal Forensics and Finance to give a high quality cutting edge to its investigation functions,” claimed the statement.
{{/usCountry}}“The Amarinder Singh-led council of Ministers on Wednesday paved the way for Punjab police to become India’s first police force to draw civilians as domain experts in IT/Digital, Legal Forensics and Finance to give a high quality cutting edge to its investigation functions,” claimed the statement.
{{/usCountry}}As per provisional plans, direct recruitment of 1,481 police officers will be undertaken across ranks --297 Sub Inspectors, 811 Head Constables and 373 Constables-- which is touted to be a game changer as it will infuse the requisite skill-set, expertise and experience to carry out specialised investigations, such as cyber investigations, financial investigations for economic crimes, etc.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
The move is expected to bring about a qualitative change in the investigation process, which is currently in the purview of the general cops in the Punjab Investigation Bureau, that was set up in 2015. It would help improve the quality of investigations in NDPS cases against drug smugglers and suppliers. Punjab is one of the worst-affected states in terms of illegal trade and consumption of drugs.
Such recruitments of graduates in law, forensics and commerce & other domains would also give an opportunity to the educated youth of Punjab in getting jobs and making careers in the Punjab Police service.
The new positions, however, are unlikely to add any additional wage burden on the force since it will be created through restructuring of the force. The bureau is abolishing 4,849 existing posts to ensure the hiring remains “revenue-neutral”, said the statement.
The fresh recruitments would be done after taking out these posts from the purview of the Subordinate Service Selection Board through Police Recruitment Board.
The remaining posts of subordinate ranks ranging from Inspectors to Constables out of the total 4,521 sanctioned posts in Punjab Bureau of Investigation would initially be filled up by deputation from Punjab Police and, thereafter, by promotion from the ranks of Punjab Bureau of Investigation.